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The Witcher Easter eggs
From Wikipedia: ---- A virtual Easter egg is an intentional hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, or video game. The term draws a parallel with the custom of the Easter egg hunt observed in many western nations. This practice is analogous to hidden signature motifs such as Diego Rivera including himself in his murals or Alfred Hitchcock's legendary cameo appearances. ---- This article will catalog easter eggs in The Witcher. The developers have stated that there are a fair number of themForum thread "Funny Stuff, little secrets, eastereggs..." (retrieved on 2007/11/10). Please note that some of these are unconfirmed, since I personally do not have the background and knowledge to know all of the references possible here. If any reference seems bogus, please discuss it on the talk page or put a note beside it. Also note that I just basically dumped these from the forum thread linked below and tried to categorize them as best I could, but some might belong in multiple categories so if someone thinks it's more logical to put them somewhere else, please do. We can remove the two notes above when enough people will have reviewed the contents of this page. Please use interwiki links to Wikipedia ( link text ) to link an item of information (movie title, name, etc.) so that people who want more information can get to it easily. Visual Easter Eggs * The runes on a sword tempered with temporary runes spell silentrun with what seems to be the futhark-based runic alphabet from Ultima. * In some of the houses and locations there is a picture hanging about of Leonardo Da Vinci (at least it looks very much like him). * In Kaer Morhen on the ground floor, there are pictures on the wall to which Geralt will make some comments. One of them is "Witcher George..." which shows striking similarities to the painting of Saint George and the Dragon. A "monster slayer" on a horse killing a scaly beast. * Detective Raymond has the face of a head artist on The Witcher Team - Adam Badowski. You can see him in a video called "Making of Combat 2" on the official site. * The sword called Illegal Sword looks like the bone sword from the movie Brotherhood of the Wolf. * An advertisement in trade quarter for a two hand axe: "The Terminator". * PFI reference from one of the guards near the gates of Old Vizima in Chapter 2, and "Poor F...ng Infantry" graffiti on recruiting poster in Temple quarter. British acronym from WW1 and WW2. (There is also a reference to the Poor F...ing Infantry in the Witcher saga books, at least in Polish and Czech version. Ingame PFI might rather be a reference to the Witcher saga.) Auditory Easter Eggs Note: Most of these are random events - you'll walk by a townsperson and you'll hear them say something that will make you laugh. That means that it's possible that every single player might never hear every single one of these. * If you listen closely to the music during the cut scene in Chapter 2 where the boat is moving away from the docks (from Vizima to the Swamp) and the camera focus moves to the surface of the water, you can hear a musical cue similar to the Jaws theme. * Some random roaming NPCs will sometimes whistle The Imperial March from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. * When you walk around the trade quarter at night, you can hear a couple of tunes from Requiem for a Dream. * When you run by the Resolute girl in Chapter 4 by the lake, she might say something like "This game sucks". (EDIT: This is not an Easter Egg. All children throughout the game are generally playing a game of some kind as you pass them what looks to be hopskotch, though there are no squares drawn. Sometimes one will say "Stupid game." This does not refer to the game you are playing, but to the game the child is playing. How is this an Easter Egg?) * When the loading screen comes up when you start the game and choose to load a saved game, a portion of the music playing bears a resemblance to the music from Fallout 2. * The kids playing in the streets will sometimes sing a song based upon one from A Nightmare on Elm Street. * Peasants or citizens sometimes whistle a few tones from The Smurfs theme. * Some Squirrels in the sewers yell "Freeeeeeeeeedom!" like William Wallace in Braveheart. * One of the battle shouts of the guards in Chapter 3 when fighting kikimores in the streets is semper fi (which is a Latin motto used by many people, organizations and governments, including the United States Marine Corps). * Some elves at the swamp camp say (sing?) "First we take on Vizima, then we take on the world". That's a reference to Leonard Cohen (or it could also be a reference to Pinky and the Brain). References to Other Games/Media * The detective (named Raymond Maarloeve) might seem strangely familiar if you've read any of the "Philip Marlowe" novels by Raymond Chandler. * The Detective also has fisstech on his desk and says "Yes, elementary." Sherlock Holmes says "Elementary, my dear Watson" and he does cocaine. * H. P. Lovecraft references: ** Certain things going on in the swamp are a clear nod to the novels and short-stories of H. P. Lovecraft. ** The first sentence of the description of Dagon is taken from H. P. Lovecraft. ** The statue in Vaska's hut resembles Cthulhu. ** The Vodyanoi resemble the Deep Ones * The person who invented explosives in The Witcher is called Alfred Nabel, and it is stated in the Prologue that he did not intend his invention to be used to blow things up. This is a reference to Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite and later on deeply regretted his inventing of the explosive due to its use on the battlefield as a means of killing. This led him to use the great fortune dynamite brought him to fund the Nobel PrizeThe Wikipedia article on Wikipedia:dynamite (retrieved on 2007/11/10). * Monty Python references: ** There is a discussion beetween lumberjacks about wild flowers and crossdressing. ** Poor people in the Vizima Temple Quarter slums will sometimes say "Society made me what I am" as Geralt passes by. * The Hermit who speaks of a controversial theory (referring to the legend of the Holy Grail) is clearly referring to Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code * The fist fight champion in Chapter 3, Andrew Gablodda, talks about a "magic hit" that he has taken during one fight, when his career was destroyed, and that he has to stay incognito covered in shame. It is based on Andrzej Gołota (also known as Andrew Golota in the U.S.), Polish boxer, who got knocked out by Mike Tyson just 53 seconds into the match by one strong blow few years back. * Another fist fighter in Chapter 2 is named Butterbean, which was the nickname of another boxer, Eric Esch. * Gramps is a cannibal in the Swamp who considers himself above his peers - a reference to Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. (A simillar canibal is depicted in the Witcher saga, called literally gramps (Czech to English translation). He was encountered by Ciri and eventually killed. This might be again rather a reference to the Witcher saga.) * When Geralt knocks down someone in the fistfighting mini-game, the victory moves he does might be a reference to: ** Brad Pitt in Snatch ** Mani in Brotherhood of the Wolf when he gets into the fights before the big hunt. * When fed some food, the gardener in Chapter 2 tells you about his days as a mercenary. Full of references to fighting in a jungle country, being eaten by diseases and nasty animals (including striped horses)and having to retreat because you can't fight an ennemy you can't see. Might he be a Vietnam veteran, perchance? * There is a character named Patrick De Wayze in Chapter 3 - reference to Patrick Swayze. * When the Lady of the Lake gives you the silver sword Aerondight (Chapter 4), she is knighting you - the phrases she uses are clearly taken out of the Kingdom of Heaven movie (the scene where the Baron of Ibelin passes its title to his son Balian, right before he dies). * Ramsmeat says the same thing to you when you pis him off as does Jules in Pulp Fiction. ::The Witcher: Ramsmeat "do i look like a whore?" You "yes/no" Ramsmeat "Then why you trying to fuck me like one?" ::Pulp Fiction: Jules "what does Marsellus Wallace look like?" Brad "Hes bald, hes black..." Jules "Does he look like a bitch?" Brad "Nnnnnno" Jules "Then why you trying to fuck him like one?" * Kalkstein seems to be a reference to Einstein. * The bestiary entry in your journal on golems tells the story of the magician's apprentice from the Disney film Fantasia. * At the end, before you fight the King of the Wild Hunt, Geralt says something like, "Thank god, I thought you'd want to play chess", a reference to The Seventh Seal, in which the main character challenges Death to a chess match in order to buy some time... * Blue Eyes mantiones Giacomo Casano(va) during a conversation with her. * You can buy the book "The Last Wish" from the Hermit in the fields in Chapter 4. * A hunter in the Swamp in Chapter 2 says he wants to be the lord or maser of Jägermeister, which is a German liqueur. But Jägermeister also means Master of the Hunt, and was regularly used in the Middle Ages, so its not necessarily an easter egg. *The quest Strangers in the Night is an obvious hint to Frank Sinatra's famous song References to Polish Culture * The Hairy Bear inn refers to Winnie the Pooh (in Polish culture). * In the Polish version there's an ad for Schuttenbach Jewellery which says something like: "To us, every ring is 'the one'". * Some NPCs mention "law and justice" which is a reference to the controversial ex-Polish rulling party - Law and Justice. * Kalkstein is President of Poland's "real surname", according to "the list of Jews", and his gnome-roots, mentioned in the juornal, are references to the small size of Kaczyński twins and the fact, that they're often called gnomes. * Ramsmeat - polish "baranina" - was a nickname for one of polish mafia bosses * Other ads may have some relation to Polish culture. Miscellaneous * The Lady of the Lake and the sword Aerondight are references to "the lady in the lake" and "excalibur" from the king arthur legend in Britain. References External Links * This forum thread on the official forums was the starting point for this page. Category:The Witcher (computer game)